After Amit Shah ropes him in, how BJP is planning to deploy Dilip Ghosh in Bengal election build-up

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh is all set to start campaigning for the party from as early as January 6 for the Assembly elections in West Bengal, due in a few months. He is likely to address 16 rallies in January, before a ban on loudspeakers comes into effect in the state due to the Class X and XII Board exams.

The Assembly elections in the state are most likely to be held in April.

Ghosh on Thursday met state unit chief Samik Bhattacharya at the party’s Salt Lake office, a day after senior BJP leader Amit Shah invited him to attend a core group meeting of the party to strategise preparations for the Assembly elections.

According to sources, the two leaders discussed Ghosh’s campaign itinerary.

The Indian Express earlier reported that a quartet of state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, two former state presidents Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar, and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari will form the core team to lead the party in the election.

Ghosh, whose role in the party started to shrink after he was dropped as state party chief in 2021 following the party’s failed attempt to unseat TMC from power, is likely to hold a rally in Barrackpore on January 6. A week later, he is most likely to hold another rally in Durgapur along with Samik Bhattacharya.

Ghosh is also scheduled to hold a rally in Cooch Behar in north Bengal, a BJP stronghold, on January 13, sources said.

In between, he will hold small rallies across the state.

“I don’t know what responsibility will be given to me, but I have told them (party leadership) that I am available 24×7… Previously, the party gave me several responsibilities, and I played the role. Positions change, and the party progresses. The party has decided to use me for the elections, and I am here,” he said, adding he was “instructed by Amit Shah to get down to election preparations”.

“Some weapons are used at special times,” he said.

“We will have to cover 294 constituencies across the state. So, we also need to address meetings separately to meet the target,” he added, pointing out that microphones are not allowed during school board examinations.

Ghosh, a former MLA from Kharagpur, said he will contest the upcoming assembly polls if fielded by the party. “Last time, I was fielded from a place that was not to my liking. My favourite place is always Kharagpur,” he said, referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when he contested from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency and lost.

Ghosh said that the new entrants to the BJP need to adapt to the party’s style of functioning.

The former BJP state president said that he has no reservations about sharing the stage with Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, with whom, it is claimed, he does not share a very cordial relationship.

According to Ghosh, the party’s result in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections may not have been good, but more people have joined the party. “We have increased our seats both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha over time. Many other leaders from other parties have also joined us…. BJP is the only option for West Bengal. Nothing is impossible. We have come to power in Odisha and Tripura,” he said. After meeting the state unit chief, Ghosh told mediapersons that he was available for the party “24×7”.

On Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee laying the foundation of another temple complex – Durga Angan – in New Town near Kolkata, Ghosh said, “I heard Durga Angan was being built, but then I heard the place has been changed. One is building a mandir, another is building a masjid. But people are not interested in this. When there are no jobs, no industry, TMC likes to divert, but we are not worried.”

In April this year, Ghosh had met TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee at Digha during the inauguration of the Jagannath Temple, which had not gone down well within the party ranks.